The Kardashians are one of the, if not biggest media personalities today. Kylie Jenner is particularly liked for her iconic Snapchat stories which let you in to the ‘secret’ and ‘amazing’ life of Kylie Jenner. However, Kylie’s online persona that she has created through the means of social media, is far from reality. No one is perfectly done up everyday, and her online persona somewhat sets an unrealistic expectation. Kylie Jenner herself said in her Snapchat story that she doesn’t show the world who the real Kylie Jenner is because is makes her feel vulnerable. Also because Kylie’s life is very much public, she feels that her personality is very sacred to her and that she want’s to keep her online self and her real self separate.

Creating your online persona is a bumpy process because you are unsure what you are happy to make public and what you want to keep private. A key component to creating a successful online persona is to maintaining a consistency across all social media platforms. You have to be the same ‘person’ on all of your social media platforms in order to gain the most followers and to have a successful online presence.

Kylie Jenner has to maintain her online persona as a young fashion icon who likes to where things out of the ordinary such as the iconic ways she changes her hair colour.

To prove exactly what I mean by Kylie’s online persona not being her but just her brand, I have made my own little parody based on her snapchat story. Enjoy!

(it’s all just for a laugh, if I offend anyone it isn’t my intention so please don’t take anything I say to heart xxxx)

Citizen Journalism is becoming a more recognised term within media today. However it faces many challenges due to the fact that people working in professional journalism refuse to view it as REAL journalism. They believe that these citizen journalists do not provide real news as they are ‘incapable’ of obtaining adequate evidence. Professional s journalists are constantly at war with the community because the professional journalists have dedicated their time and money to becoming a journalist, when there are people claiming the title with no educational background. And these ‘citizen journalists’ are also considered more influential than the professional journalists.

Citizen Journalism has grown from a few little blogs to a collective intelligence all due to the rise of social media and technology. Just the other day I was driving to uni and saw a car in flames, holding up traffic and by the time I got to uni I was able to search this particular incident on line whilst it was still happening. Citizen Journalists are just everyday people that are able to produce news that they perceive as important and what people want to hear. It’s such common place for people to purchase the daily newspaper only to skim through all of the news headlines that they have no interest in. With technology and citizen journalism the extents that news can reach is inconceivable.

People are engaged with citizen journalism and are their own citizen journalists because they see it as they are producing what the public want to hear or what the public care about. 20 years ago people weren’t concerned about what was going to be done about minor government decisions or whether or not a woman’s dog was found or not. But due to the rise in social media, it has become commonplace for people to post on community notice board pages about a robbery in a local street or where is the nicest place to get Mexican.

For example, The Camden and Narellan community notice board is a Facebook page created by locals to initiate an online community for the people that live in the Camden and Narellan community. It’s main aim is for local’s to communicate with each other about various things such as local deals with sports clubs, when local markets are on and about any crime happening in the area that people would like to know about. These pages are effective because it uses social media’s popularity to enhance communication within the community.

The rise of citizen journalism is an up and coming business and is slowly getting treated with the recognition that it deserves. Who knows, maybe one day there will no longer be journalism degrees.

To many of us music lovers, we sometimes love the remixed version of a song better than the original. Or we may not even know the original even exists. Never the less, remix culture is a strong commodity within the media community.

There are many YouTube videos on the internet that go through the step by step process of how artists remixed various different sounds and songs to create their own song. For example, artist The prodigy’s song ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ is a remix of many songs. These are all combined together to create a unique sound. This video is an example of the creation of the remix that is this song.

Meme’s are also an example of ‘Remix’ within today’s society. These memes are created from normal photos to then add text to create a whole new meaning. One of the most popular memes on the internet is the photo of Jean Wilder as Willy Wonka:

If you search ‘Willy Wonka meme’ in Google Images, this is what comes up and more. However, are remixes of songs and creating memes infringing copyright? When artists Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams released their song ‘Blurred Lines’ in 2013, it became an instant hit. Climbing the iTunes charts quickly to number 1, however the more times that this summer hit was played on the radio, Marvin Gaye had decided to sue both Thicke and Williams for copyright. Marvin Gaye and his family believed that ‘Blurred Lines’ was very similar to his song ‘Got to Give it up’. However, when referring to the copyright act involving songs, one can only be legible to sue if the other song copied lyrics or snippets of the music, Gaye claimed that ‘Blurred Lines’ had the same ‘vibe’ as his song. In saying this, your initial reaction would be ‘Oh so, Robin Thicke and Pharrell won the case’, WRONG.

The jury sided with Marvin Gaye as they believed it infringed copyright due to similar vibe. This case is further elaborated in this article.

The ‘glitch’ is a digital and analog error which was a common occurrence due to a technological malfunction. Before technological advancements that lead to the LCD TV which now the glitch is not a common occurrence. However now people now view the glitch as an aesthetic component and have created “Glitch Art”.

Glitch Art is very popular within pop culture and is used when editing photos. Glitch art is also used to create a scary effect in certain videos which are called ‘wild glitches’. It is also considered a material transformation as the audience has changed their perception of it. Now that they are no longer plagued by the glitch on their tv screens its now viewed as a sacred piece of imagery. Glitch art is ambivalent, it confuses the relationship between signal and noise (Betancourt, 2012). Personally, I believe that ‘Glitch Art’ is considered ‘Art’ because when looking at the image it makes you think and question it. This art form makes you think about what the artist is trying to portray with its use of digital techniques. The Guardian has written a very informative piece on Glitch Art and how its weirdly wonderful and how it turns ordinary photos or videos into “visually arresting pieces”.

Glitch Art is a strange yet wonderful commodity to the artistic, pop culture world that we surround ourselves in. In a crooked world, its mystifying to gaze upon a piece of digital art that makes you seriously question its message.

“Transmedia Storytelling” as defined by Henry Jenkins, “represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience”. So, in other words, it is where different stories from the same ‘fictional world’ are told on different media platforms to create a unique experience.

A prime example of this is the million dollar franchise that is ‘Star Wars’. Star Wars has been around for decades and was first introduced to the entertainment world as films. George Lucas, the creator of the masterpiece that is Star Wars (no bias there!) admits that in creating Star Wars there were many inspirations. One of the main ones being a 1958 Japanese film “The Hidden Fortress” in which the characters of this film inspired many of the characters used for Star Wars such as Han Solo and C3PO.

All fun facts aside, Star Wars is considered ‘Transmedia Story telling’ as companies and fans have appropriated the concept of ‘Star Wars’ and have warped it into creating their own side story within the Star Wars world.

Companies have also created video and computer games which are telling a different story but still remain within the Star Wars universe. Such as the game created called “Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles”. These many components have helped Star Wars build on its story across multiple media platforms and mediums. Because of these appropriations, Star Wars is considered an example of “Transmedia Story Telling”

My Digital Artefact for one of my university subjects is all about how being positive and happy can improve your life in many aspects. These following sources assist in the explanation of why i chose this topic.

This article written is about how positive thinking influences your health. This article, written by James Clear, outlines the impacts of what a positive mindset can give you and how it helps you develop skills and opens your mind up to new opportunities. This article relates well to my Digital artefact because it is all about how being positive and happy improves your quality of life. This article is clear and concise and provides a perfect source in order to back up his statement, whilst also introducing new concepts for the audience to think about.

This article was hyperlinked within the previous source. This source is about Psychologist Barbara Frederickson’s “Broaden-and-build hypothesis”. Frederickson’s theory is that “positive emotions asserts that people’s daily experiences of positive emotions compound over time to build a variety of consequential personal resources”. This text is relevant to my digital artefact because it provides a case study of which proves that when people are experiencing positive emotions they feel that they are able to achieve more and are open to new experiences. Fredericton’s hypothesis suggests that positive emotions momentarily broaden people’s attention and thinking. This article relates well to my digital artefact because it demonstrates with evidence that having a positive mind can broaden your opportunities. Highly recommend the read 🙂

This article is very interesting and is very useful in relation to my digital artefact. It highlights the fact that the real obstacle to positivity is that our brains are hard wired to perceive and focus on threats. This article references many psychologists such as Martin Seligman and how he worked with researchers from Dartmouth and the University of Michigan to conduct a study on the results and ramifications of positivity. The downfall of this article is that it doesn’t go into deep explanation of the sub topics produced. For example, it highlights the fact that positivity is linked to a person’s performance. He then discusses a study conducted by Seligman, however he doesn’t discuss any of his own thoughts, only what was discovered from the study. Personally, i believe that if Bradberry had discussed the subtopics in his own words more as opposed to relying on the discoveries of others that it would be a more engaging to the audience. Overall a very interesting article.

This article written by Sara Rimer who is a journalist and author based in Boston was very interesting. It highlights the ups and downs of being positive and remaining positive. Rimer states that is is impossible for someone to not worry. Rimer also annotates various case studies conducted by researchers, with one in particular to which it states that optimism reduces the risk of coronary heart disease by almost half. This piece is relevant to my digital artefact because it highlights the possible outcomes of what being negative can do to your body with trustworthy sources. This article is quite extensive, however the writing flows well and is clear and concise which engages the audience in wanting to read more.

This online blog post is all about how to make the perfect instagram. This article relates well to my digital artefact because it will assist me in gaining more followers for my digital artefact by learning all about how to ‘take the right photo’ and how to ‘get the right caption’. This blog is clear and concise in its writing and the photos used to demonstrate ‘the perfect instagram’ makes the post a lot easier to understand. Conrad makes a point about when taking a photo of an object, to use a simple background as to not upstage the object that you are photographing. This is a helpful tip for anyone wanting a successful instagram page and I will be sure to follow some of her tips in my digital artefact.

This source analyses Barbara Frederickson’s ‘broaden and build theory’ a little further than my first source. This articles dives into the study that when faced with positive emotions such as joy and contentment, our brains are open to new possibilities and ideas. This piece is important in regards to my digital artefact as Fredrickson analyses how experiencing positive emotions to negative emotions in this approximate ratio leads people to achieve optimal levels of well-being and resilience (Frederickson, B. 2013). I believe that this source is well written and discusses Frederickson’s theories and ideas in depth whilst still easy to interpret for the audience.

This article is mainly about a study conducted by Michael F. Scheier and Charles S. Carver in 1985 titled “Optimism, Coping, and Health: Assessment and Implications of Generalized Outcome Expectancies”. This whole article is about dispositional optimism. Scheier and Carver delve into the concept that a reason that many people are optimistic is that it has to do with their characteristics (internal). Scheier and Carver also state that they know why optimists do better than pessimists. They state that “Optimists are not simply being Pollyannas; they’re problem solvers who try to improve the situation” whereas Pessimists will dwell on the tragic situation. Personally, i believe that this article could have used a few more examples to consolidate their argument, however this is a very useful article for my digital artefact because it explores one of the many avenues that come from positivity.

This article by Wall Street Journal is all about happiness and positivity across the globe. It talks about which countries are the happiest. The author that has dictated the research points out that the richest countries are not necessarily the happiest. Which is where the cliche “Money doesn’t buy happiness” becomes very much a reality. For example, Luxembourg is the wealthiest country in the world by GDP per capita however it is not listed in the happiest countries of the world. This article is very interesting to read and provides the audience with some very helpful information. It is useful to my digital artefact as it explores the cliche of “Money doesn’t buy happiness” of which people tend to overlook.

This source is simple and basic, however still conveys their argument towards the audience affectively. The author introduces their argument about how our family impacts our wellbeing and then proves this statement with the following chart with numerous statistics about how having a good relationship with your family members makes you a more positive person. This article is relevant to my digital artefact because it explores one of the many avenues that relate to a persons’ positivity. Overall i believe that this article could use an example or two of some case studies conducted by researchers, however it is still a very interesting read 🙂

This source is all about Mathew Lieberman’s study on how our social connections make us happier people and assist in keeping us grounded. Lieberman states that “Just as human beings have a basic need for food and shelter, we also have a basic need to belong to a group and form relationships”. To anyone who has not studied this theory, would automatically believe that placing social relationships on the same scale of importance as eating is ridiculous. If you refer to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs which is not mentioned in this text, you will see that to have love and belonging, you must first have safety. If you look at Lieberman’s concept from that perspective, it doesn’t seem so farfetched after all. This article is admissible to my digital artefact because it refers to how having a social life and being social makes us happier people with relevant sources to back up the argument. Very interesting to read 🙂

Citizen journalism has got to be one of the easiest concepts provided throughout my course at university so far!

Basically it just encapsulates the fact that due to the development of technology over the past decade and the speed at which we receive information increasing ten fold, anyone with an internet connection can be a journalist. Mainstream online journalism is often accused of being slow to respond to events and issues within the media. Because of this people have started citizen journalism. Citizen journalism is an effective form of journalism as it consolidates the publics opinion and views within the articles.

Henry Jenkins is an advocate for citizen journalism. Jenkins runs an online blog in which he delves into certain issues such as video blogging and citizen journalism; called ‘henryjenkins.org’. In one of his posts he recounts an interview with John Barth (from Public radio exchange) and Steve Garfield (who is widely credited for the video blogging movement). Throughout this interview, Garfield and Barth discuss the many pros and cons of video blogging and citizen journalism. The pros stated within the article include that when reporting an event, you can get 5, 10 or 15 people blogging about the same event and with this you are able to get a good sense of what happened at the event. Another pro is also that you can video blog however you want, you don’t have an editor telling you what to say and what side of the argument you should be for. Its all your own opinion, your own voice.

Cons mentioned within the interview include the fact that video bloggers and citizen journalists do not have the money or resources that mainstream news media outlets have. Citizen Journalists have to utilise what is readily available to them such as social media. Some people may also see that the lack of credibility is a con, due to the fact that video bloggers tend to report on their own views and their opinions, they rely on the trust of their audience.

Its also a way to get information out to the community quickly through means of social media. For example there are many online community board pages such as the ‘Camden & Narellan Community Notice Board page’. This community notice board page is used for many different things such as alerting the area of any fireworks being let off and to ensure that dogs are looked after. To tell the community of any discounts that people may be interested in from places such as Coles or Woolworths.

That statement automatically sets off millions of ‘tech savvy’ across the world into over drive. Advertisements are filled with showcasing how ‘great’ Apple is, however in comparison to android, it proves incredibly meager. The aim of the iPhone was for it to be innovative, for it to include many different components within the one device. It wasn’t meant to be like your PC but more like an iPod that you can take phone calls on and can access the Internet on. It was the revolutionary all in one device that has changed the world through the technological convergence from iPod to iPhone.

Android was around because Apple introduced the iPhone, however it wasn’t recognised as a smart phone due to the fact that the phones with android technology were not touch screen, however companies such as LG and Sony did develop to touch screen quite early. As far as innovation is concerned, android is the better phone. This is due to the fact that the various android designs are very customer friendly and allow a large market of customers to adapt to the smart phone. Whereas, with apple its very specific and can prove difficult when first learning how to use it, especially towards an older audience.

For example, the iPhone has a specific amount of memory that when purchasing the phone you have to evaluate how much memory you think you will use and whether you can deal with the standard 16 GB model or pay an extra $50 a month just for the 64GB. Whereas, with android you are able to change the memory card to whatever size you want for a fraction of the price.

Android phones also have a removable battery, which makes paying to fix them simple. Also, if an android phone is dropped in water it is more likely that it will get fixed due to the fact that you are able to remove the battery and sim card which makes it easier to dry the inside of the phone.

However, no matter how much more innovative and technologically advanced android is, Apple is the more successful business due to the fact that a large chunk of the market finds their products more aesthetically pleasing as opposed to Android.

Intellectual property seems like a pretty silly thing to get worked up over, let alone copyright. However, people are being accused of intellectual property theft on a weekly basis. Intellectual property is a term used to refer to the creations of the intellect for which a monopoly is assigned to designated owners by law. Intellectual Property is used in aim to “Promote Progress” which is noted in the U.S. Constitution, which gives people the drive and motivation in order to achieve their goals. Intellectual property covers a variety of elements such as music through to original Youtube videos. Copyrighting intellectual property gives the person substantial rights to the subject in question however only for a limited amount of time.

One of the most famous cases in intellectual property infringement is one of which Mark Zuckerberg was accused of stealing the idea of the social network from brothers Tyler & Cameron Winklevoss and friend Divya Narendra. During this dispute, both parties agreed to keep the case a secret. However, once the case was closed it wasn’t long until the media got all of the details including how much Zuckerberg had to pay them in settlement to keep his website. The Winklevoss brothers and Narendra struggled with their case in 2004 due to the fact that they had never actually placed copyright on their idea and they were only in college.

Due to the stir that this case caused however, Zuckerberg paid the three, 20 million dollars in cash and then gave them a substantial amount of shares in the company. Its crazy to think that just because three young adults chucked a tantrum because another boy stole their idea and made it a reality when they couldn’t. Originality is a myth, every thing has been done before or if it hasn’t, someone else has had thought of the idea and just hasn’t had the resources or stability to be able to act upon it. Which i guess is why “Intellectual Property Copyright” is a law.

You can only imagine what Marshall McLuhan was thinking when the first thing he reads when seeing his nearly published book is a typo. However, “the medium is the MESSAGE” is a phrase that has had a huge impact on society over the past few decades, making us question our everyday acts and whether we would react differently if with a different medium. For example, if you were scrolling through facebook and stumbled across a funny video, but when watching it you just kind of breathed heavier out of your nose. But if you were to show someone the funny video, you are guaranteed to laugh more than you did the first time you watched it, due to the medium in which its being conveyed.

“The Medium is the Message” – Marshall McLuhan

This theory was first put forth by Marshall McLuhan in his book titled “The medium is the message” NOT “The medium is the massage” and after lots of research i believe that I am capable of conceptualizing the theory in all its glory. McLuhan was not able to experience cyberspace the way that we have , however his theories can very much be applied to it today. “The medium is the message” as a phrase sums up a communication theory that the medium through which we choose to communicate holds as much, if not more, value than the message itself.